368 PROCEEDINGS OF SECTION D. 



correct one, it follows that the passage of the birds from 

 New Zealand to Australia must have taken place a very long 

 time ago, certainly not later tiian the Eocene, because the 

 differentiation which has since taken place is so great. 

 According to Mr. De Vis, a femur belonging to one of the 

 DinornithidcB has been lately found on the Darling Downs, 

 and if this turns out to be correct it will imply either that 

 the Dinornithidcs were in existence in the Eocene, or that 

 there was a second migration from New Zealand to Australia 

 in the Pliocene period. Also, if Hypelornis sivalensis really 

 belongs to the CasuarincE, it y/ill imply a migration into 

 India from New Guinea ; but the genus is only known by a 

 single toe bone — the second phalanx of the third toe of the 

 right foot. At any rate, if Hypelornis is a cassowary it 

 must be a descendant, not an ancestor, of the more generalised 

 moas. 



If the Struthious birds of Australasia originated from 

 flying birds in the South Pacific region, it is probable that the 

 ostriches of Africa and South America have a different line 

 of descent from that of the emus and cassowaries. The 

 ostriches are distinguished by their soft downy feathers and 

 the long plumes on the wing, and by the depressed and 

 flattened bill. Also the extensor muscle of the leg has no 

 "retus femoris," and there is no gall bladder. In all these 

 points they differ from the Australasian Hatitce, and while 

 the ostrich and the rhea have two ungual phalanges in the 

 wing and are polygamous, the emu, the cassowary, and the 

 kiwi have only one ungual phalanx in the wing, and are 

 monogamous. The ostriches may, therefore, have originated 

 in the Northern Hemisphere — possibly as swimming birds — 

 and the GastornithidcB, which have relations with the 

 Anatidfs, may be their ancestors. 



The ^pyornidce of Madagascar are related to the Rap- 

 tatores, and they probably originated in Madagascar. If 

 .they are derived from northern non-flying ancestors, these 

 ancestors must have passed into Madagascar from Africa 

 during the Eocene period. They could not have come later, 

 because none of the Miocene mammalia have found their 

 way into Madagascar. 



Note, added, Wth January, 1892. — The facts mentioned in 

 Professor Tate's paper on the Florulas of Lord Howe and 

 Norfolk Islands seem to imply that they have been first con- 

 nected with New Zealand and Polynesia, and afterM^ards 



